Sydney
Australia02 9089 8851

General checklist of Ways to work with your accountant to minimise unnecessary costs

General checklist of Ways to work with your accountant to minimise unnecessary costs

Find out from the secretary of your accountant how they prefer the information to be presented to him/her

Obtain any checklists from your accountant that list the most efficient way for clients to present information to them

Find out what is the most compatible software to use which minimises down time on transferring information from you to them

Review our – Standard List

Make sure that you give all the right information to the accountant fist time in an easy to understand format. It is much better that your accountant can start and finish your work in one sitting rather than continually picking up and putting it back your job on the shelf awaiting bits and pieces of information. Each time this process takes place the accountant has to refresh his or her mind with the details of your job which creates wasted time and money

Provide a summary page to your accountant focussing on important issues that have occurred throughout the period and highlight concerns or problem areas. Eg. Did you purchase expensive plant or equipment or obtain a new lease or loan?

If you have substantial transactions or receipts determine who is in the best position to add them all up or summarise them. Also enquire what categories you should summarise them into in order to present them to your accountant

Avoid forwarding all your information to your accountant at the cut off date. This is generally when accountants are swamped with work

Avoid forwarding all your information to your accountant at peak periods. Remember most clients have an extended period to prepare and lodge their tax returns.

Ask the secretary or accountant when they would like the information presented to them, and highlight when is the best time for THEM not you

If you have performed all of the above and feel confident that the accountant received the information in a much more efficient way than in the past and your circumstances were not any different to the previous years the fees paid to your accountant should not increase unless there is a specific reason. If your fees did increase politely ask why.